Could Jaylen Brown become an every night starter for the Boston Celtics in 2017? There’s a very strong possibility that it happens fairly soon.

Jaylen Brown had a tremendous rookie season for the Boston Celtics last season, and he’s hoping for an even better second year. With his defensive play and scoring ability, could he find himself in the starting lineup before the season ends?

Brown will have to fight to get into the starting lineup, but I think he’ll be there by December. He could fit in a starting lineup that includes Isaiah Thomas, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford and either Marcus Smart or Jae Crowder. Brown can defend almost anyone on the court, and we know he’s willing to as he went after LeBron James last year.

We gave Jaylen Brown a B+ in our 2016-17 player report cards, but we expect him to be even better this season. He will have to take more control and keep the ball when he has the opportunity to score. At some points last year, Brown was passing up open looks. That can’t continue in 2017.

Jaylen Brown has also improved his defensive play. When 76ers guard J.J. Reddick was asked about defenders who stood out to him last season, he mentioned Brown.

“A guy who did a great job last year was Jaylen Brown. Avery (Bradley) was hurt the first time we played them, so Jaylen guarded me in Boston, and he just did a great job of sticking with me. He has the length, he’s strong, and he’s athletic.”

Reddick has been in the league for quite some time now, so he knows a good defender when he sees one. With Avery Bradley out of the picture, perhaps Brown becomes Boston’s go-to lock down defender.

Jaylen Brown has also gotten a ton of work in this summer. He was a star for the Celtics in Summer League play, and most recently he led Team World in the NBA Africa Game. He was a stud on the court there too.

That play shows you all you need to know about Jaylen Brown’s athletic ability. This kid will be a starter someday soon.

bobMY NOTE: I don't know if Jaylen will be the starting SG every game. He might some games, against teams with bigger SGs (e.g. DeMar DeRozan of Toronto, Klay Thompson of GSW) but we need someone with speed to defend against the other team's point guard and IT can't do that and expend that much energy on offense, and that might be Rozier's opening. I'm not saying Rozier is a starting NBA guard, he isn't yet, but we need someone who can fill Bradley's on-the-ball defensive sneakers and Rozier's as close as we can get.

I think that both Crowder and Morris will both start at least at the beginning of the season with Hayward, Thomas and Horford. Brown will be a very tough handle for anyone else's second group, and he can work in with the first group as well on different nights.

Of course, injuries and surprise pre season performances could change everything and anything.

It's gonna take at least 10-12 games for us to settle on a starting line up and then that can also change down the road with so many new and young players. I see Morris starting as our 4 and Crowder at some point going to the bench as a productive 3-4. I see Jaylen and Hayward as our starting wings, with Jaylen taking on the better offensive player on defense whether it's the 2 or 3..... with Tatum getting minutes off the bench as a 3, but a few minutes as a 4 also.

From my perspective Danny Ainge would not have traded AB if he did not have a defensive backup plan.

Jaylen Brown provides the speed quickness and intensity to be a major component on defense. I do not think that he will be starting from Day-1 but he will be in the mix as a primary rotation player that can come in at the 2 or 3.

If he shoots the ball with more consistency he may become the 6th man and end up playing starter minutes. He shot 34.1% from behind the arc last season which was 5 points above his lone season at Cal. However it was below the team 3-point shooting percentage of 35.9. Therefore he needs to and should be able to improve that area. I also think that we will see him use his athleticism to get to the rim. He can make his bones picking up fouls but will need to greatly improve his foul shooting of 68%.

Rozier has on the ball quickness to defend the point and he needs to be ready to run the offense and attack the ball on defense.

And last but not least there is a guy on this team named Marcus Smart and his name must be part of the conversation.

The Celtics have a lot of options but all of the three players mentioned will need to improve on offense. Avery Bradley was a terrific two way player and as such you really did not have to sacrifice offense for defense or visa versa.

The Hayward/Crowder combination at SG and SF can work if IT puts more effort in on the defensive end and if Hayward can defend the Bradley Beals of the world. That combination is actually the best offensive pairing as both Crowder and Hayward are very efficient offensive players. Depending on small ball schemes we will see a 3 wing rotation of Brown/Hayward/Crowder.

Danny has certainly given Brad a blank canvas and an extended collection of colors to work with. Brad will create a masterpiece because that is what he does. He has an amazing ability to bring forth a team that maximizes their abilities and understates their weaknesses.

I like Crowders grit, but he's very limited on offense. Tatum was drafted for a reason and Brown has defensive versatility to defend the 1-3. If Crowder is getting more minutes than Tatum and Brown by the end of the year, that's a bad sign that they are not as good as we all hoped.

In response to who plays in crunch time, I think that we all need to include Marcus Smart in the mix for late game minutes as he has been there for all of the last two seasons and I would doubt that Stevens finds a better guy on his current roster for this portion of the game.

Not sure that Crowder will still not be a very good player for us as he was a 40% three point shooter and can play two defensive positions. He never lacks hustle or effort either while earning the trust of his teammates and coaches since his arrival from Dallas.

Of course, for the betterment of the team, it would be nice to have Tatum and/or Brown become better players than Crowder by the end of next season because winning in the NBA is all about having better players in all situations.